During open heart surgery, a system for the extracorporeal circulation of fluids through a number of fluid circuits is required. This system is referred to as a perfusion control system or heart-lung machine. The fluid circuits of the system typically include a cardiopulmonary circuit, a cardioplegia circuit, a cardiotomy circuit and a ventricular vent circuit.
The cardiopulmonary circuit, which is designed to functionally replace or supplement the heart and lungs during heart surgery, comprises tubing, one or more pumps for blood circulation and an oxygenation device. Blood is received from a major vessel entering the heart (e.g., the vena cava) by a venous line. The venous line transports blood optionally to a reservoir, and then to an oxygenator. Oxygenated blood is transported back to the patient via the arterial line and enters the patient in a major vessel leaving the heart (e.g., aorta).
The cardioplegia circuit delivers cardioplegia to the heart. Cardioplegia discontinues the beating of the heart in a manner that will minimize damage to the myocardium and provides a motionless heart on which the surgeon can operate. Cardioplegia can also supply other ingredients to provide for myocardial protection. Cardioplegia may be the crystalloid solution alone or may also include oxygenated blood diverted from the arterial line. The crystalloid solution typically contains potassium chloride (KCl), sugars and magnesium. The potassium (K+) concentration in the cardioplegia is initially elevated (e.g., 25 mmol/l) during induction of arrest and reduced (8.5-9 mmol/l). during maintenance. Other cations such as magnesium (Mg++) can be used as heart arresting agents. It is preferred to include oxygenated blood in the cardioplegia so that the cardioplegia is buffered and can oxygenate the myocardium. Where cardioplegia includes arterial blood, the cardioplegia circuit comprises the oxygenated blood line containing blood diverted from the arterial blood line, the crystalloid solution bag and line, the cardioplegia delivery line (containing the mixture of blood and crystalloid solution) and one or more pumps. The crystalloid solution line and the oxygenated blood line may both be threaded through the same pump or through different pumps. The pumps can be peristaltic or other pumps known in the art. There is typically a device for controlling and recording the total volume of crystalloid solution and oxygenated blood that are combined to form the cardioplegia. The cardioplegia is delivered to the coronary arterial network or coronary sinus for distribution throughout the myocardium. The cardioplegia is then distributed through the circulatory system, or may occasionally be drawn out the chest cavity and discarded or directed via the cardiotomy line to the cardiopulmonary circuit, as discussed immediately below.
The cardiotomy circuit is used to withdraw or suction blood or blood mixed with other fluids from the opened heart or the chest cavity and deliver it to the cardiopulmonary circuit at a point upstream of the oxygenator.
The ventricular vent circuit functions to drain the left ventricle of blood that returns via the bronchial artery and pulmonary veins. The vent line collects blood from the left ventricle and delivers it to the cardiopulmonary circuit at a point upstream of the oxygenator.
Existing systems for extracorporeal circulation commonly have pumps, reservoir(s), an oxygenator and monitoring devices mounted on a console. The system can also include a controller that regulates pump speeds and receives information from patient monitoring devices. The controller may also cause the collected information to be displayed on a monitor. A description of perfusion control systems can be found in U.S. Ser. No. 08/304,725, filed Sep. 12, 1994, pending, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
The infusion of KCl or other arresting agents into the patient's blood is critical to induce and maintain arrest during surgery. It is generally considered desirable to avoid excessive dilution of the blood with crystalloid solution so as to maintain adequate oxygenation of tissues and minimize the need for heat exchange (Houerou, D. et al. (1992) Ann. Thorac. Surg. 54:809-16). Thus, the trend is to use crystalloid solutions of high concentration. It is also considered desirable to avoid an excessive dose of KCl as it can result in increased systemic K+ concentration and delayed resumption of heart function at the conclusion of surgery.
To obtain a desired K+ concentration in the cardioplegia, cardiologists select the crystalloid solution concentration and the flow rates of oxygenated blood and crystalloid solution. See, e.g., Fried, D. W. & Mohamed, H. (1993) Perfusion 8:401-407. U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,540 (1995) describes a cardioplegia pump system for controlling the ratio of blood and crystalloid solution that are mixed.
A prior art equation that has been used to predict the K+ concentration in the cardioplegia is: ##EQU1## where C.sub.o is the desired K+ concentration in the cardioplegia, Q.sub.b is the flow rate of the oxygenated blood, C.sub.s is the initial K+ concentration in the oxygenated serum, Q.sub.k is the flow rate of crystalloid solution, and C.sub.k is the crystalloid K+ concentration. Equation (1) suffers from at least one major setback: it does not correct for the effect of the formed elements that are not substantially permeable to the infused cations, such as K+. Therefore, equation (1) consistently under-predicts the therapeutic K+ concentration.
Thus, in the prior art, practitioners believed the unfractionated cardioplegia K+ concentration to be the therapeutically effective dose. The subject invention recognizes that the actual therapeutic concentration is the cardioplegia plasma K+ concentration, which invariably is greater than the unfractionated cardioplegia K+ concentration. The subject invention remedies the prior art erroneous prediction method by recognizing the reduced volume in cardioplegia that is actually available for solubilizing K+. Further, the subject invention provides accurate methods for determining the actual volume in cardioplegia available for solubilizing K+ based on an empirical relationship between plasma volume and hematocrit.